ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of Home Affairs
Union Home Minister flags off "Run for Unity", administers Ekta Pledge
“Let us pledge to work for national unity”: Shri Rajnath Singh
The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh flagged off the "Run for Unity" from the Dhyanchand National Stadium here today. Hundreds of enthusiastic youth, children and elderly citizens participated in the Run. On the occasion, he also administered the Rashtria Ekta Diwas  Pledge to the participants.
Addressing the huge gathering, the Union Home Minister recalled Sardar Patel’s monumental role in uniting various provinces in the immediate aftermath of India’s Independence. He said Sardar Patel was the force behind India’s unity and integrity. The Nation is deeply indebted to him, he added. Shri Rajnath Singh said today we must pledge to dedicate ourselves to the vision of the Iron Man of India.
Earlier, the Union Home Minister paid floral tributes to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the first Home Minister of India, at his statue at Patel Chowk to mark his 143rd birth anniversary.
Ministry of Finance
Indian Science & Technology- Outputs in the last one year
The Economic Survey of India 2017-18 was tabled in Parliament today by the Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Shri Arun Jaitley. The Survey’s observations on transformation of Indian Science & Technology in the last one year in the OUTPUTS of the sector are as follows:-
Publications
Looking at publications and patents in Science & technology in India can help assess the productivity and quality of Indian research. In 2013, India ranked 6th in the world in scientific publications. Its ranking has been increasing as well. The growth of annual publications between 2009 to 2014 was almost 14 percent. This increased India’s share in global publications from 3.1 % in 2009 to 4.4 % in 2014 as per the Scopus Database.
Broadly, the publication trends reveal that India is gradually improving its performance as measured by the number of publications which is an important metric.
In addition to increasing publications, trends in quality are also slowly improving. The Nature Index  ranked India at 13 in 2017.
Patents
If journal publications reflect a country’s prowess in science, patents reflect its standing in technology. According to the WIPO, India has the world’s 7th largest Patent Filing Office. In 2015, India registered 45,658 patents in comparison to China , USA  Japan  Republic of Korea  and Germany . However, India produces fewer patents per capita.
One major challenge in India has been the domestic patent system. While India’s patent applications and grants have grown rapidly in foreign jurisdictions, the same is not true at home. Residential applications have increased substantially since India joined the international patent regime in 2005. However, the number of patents granted fell sharply post- 2008 and has remained low. While Indian residents were granted over 5000 patents in foreign offices in 2015, the number of resident filings in India was little over 800.
The government’s recent hiring of over 450 additional patent examiners and creation of an expedited filing system for Indian residents in 2017 will therefore be a welcome and crucial intervention to help fix the existing patent system. Having addressed issues on the patent filing side, addressing patent litigation issues will also be crucial to ensuring that the patent system effectively rewards innovation.
Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs
METHOD ADOPTED UNDER AMRUT SCHEME
Water Supply and sanitation is a State subject. However, Government of India supplements the efforts of the States and Urban Local Bodies  in providing infrastructure for basic services such as drinking water facilities and sewerage infrastructure in urban areas through its various flagship Missions including Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation. . To remove challenges of water supply and sanitation in urban areas, AMRUT Mission provides freedom to the States/ Union Territories  to select, apprise, propose and after approval from Apex Committee of Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs , implement projects within the broad framework of AMRUT Mission.
There is a dedicated AMRUT portal for tracking the progress of projects. State/ Union Territory  is required to update data on the portal on regular basis. Mission Directorate also provides hand holding support to the States/ UTs and its cities from time to time to resolve issues and eliminate bottlenecks for timely completion of projects. To fast-track the implementation of the Mission, progress is periodically reviewed and monitored by the Ministry with the States/ UTs & their Urban Local Bodies  through regular video conferences, webinars, workshops etc. In addition, dedicated Independent Review and Monitoring Agencies  have been setup in the Mission for the assessment and monitoring of work done in the States/ UTs. Therefore, achievement of planned outputs will result in better service delivery and ease of living of citizens.
Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban and Smart City Missions have been coordinated at city levels with AMRUT Mission for achieving ease of living.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Housing & Urban Affairs, Shri Kaushal Kishore, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Cabinet approves amendments/changes in The National Medical Commission Bill, 2019
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has been apprised of the amendments/changes in the National Medical Commission Bill, 2019. The original version of the Bill was approved by the Cabinet on 17th July, 2019 and was passed in both Houses of the Parliament on 29th July, 2019 and 1st August, 2019 respectively, with official amendments.
The following changes have been made in the National Medical Commission Bill, 2019 passed by the Parliament from the version that was approved by the Cabinet on 17th July 2019 and the Cabinet was apprised of these changes:
- Clause 4 –Twentytwo part-time Members instead of fourteen members;
- Clause 4 – ten members instead of six members
- Clause 4 – nine members instead of five members
- Clause 37 – added at the end “for the purposes of teaching also”.
Ministry of Finance
De-notification of Inland Container Depots/Container Freight Stations/Air Freight Stations
Providing relief to custodians of Inland Container Depots  and Container Freight Stations  across the country, the CBIC today streamlined the procedure of closure of these facilities in maximum of four months only. No timeline was specified earlier.
ICDs and CFS play a vital role in the exim trade as they store and clear import and export goods. These facilities are notified under the Customs Act, 1962 and are administered by the Customs authorities. However, at times a custodian may like to close  the facility. The disposal of un-cleared, seized and confiscated goods import/export are prerequisites for the de-notification. The CBIC noted that this process was taking a long time which caused difficulties for the custodians.
The newly issued Circular No. 20/2021-Customs dated 16.08.2021 requires a custodian intending to wind up the operation to submit an application to jurisdictional Principal Commissioner/Commissioner of Customs for de-notifying the ICD/CFS. A Nodal Officer at the level of Deputy/Assistant Commissioner of Customs would then facilitate the de-notification by coordinating the disposal of the goods lying at the facility in a time bound manner.
The new procedure would ensure undue cost and time over runs are avoided. Importantly, the de-notification shall be completed within a maximum of four months from the date of receipt of complete application. This is yet another trade facilitation initiative by CBIC.
Special Service and Features
International Yoga Day programme in Kochi to be led by Union Minister of State, Road Transport and Highways and Civil Aviation, Gen.  Dr V. K. Singh
Kochi: June 20, 2022
International Yoga Day  is being celebrated every year on June 21, 2022 since 2015. As IDY 2022 is falling in the “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav” year this time, Ministry of Ayush is observing the Day at 75 iconic locations across the country. The theme for IDY 2022 is “Yoga for Humanity” as it depicts how during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, yoga served the humanity in alleviating the suffering and in the emerging post-COVID geo-political scenario too, is bringing people together through compassion, kindness and is fostering a sense of unity and building resilience among people the world over.
In Kerala, several programmes have been lined up at Iconic sites to celebrate IDY 2022. In Kochi, the programme is being organized by NHAI Regional Office at Parade Ground, near St Francis Church, Fort Kochi on June 21, 2022. It will be led by Union Minister of State, Road Transport and Highways and Civil Aviation, Gen.  Dr V. K. Singh. Yoga session will be conducted under the supervision of senior Yoga instructor Dr Jaidev, from 5.30 am. People of Kochi including students of various eminent colleges, public representatives, senior government officials of State & Central Government, yoga instructors etc. will attend the programme.
Kochi Video Link: https://pib.gov.in/Downloads/Kochi%20video.mp4
Archaeological Survey of India , Thrissur Circle, is also organising two programmes, one at Bekal Fort, Kasargod and the other at Fort St. Angelo, Kannur on June 21, 2022. The programme in Kasargod will be inaugurated by Smt. Meghashree D. R, Sub Collector, Kasargod and is being organised in collaboration with Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan. Students from four Kendriya Vidyalayas will participate in the event. In Kannur, six selected schools of Kannur District are associating with ASI, Thrissur Circle.
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Ministry of Electronics & IT
Aadhaar authentication clocks 1.96 billion transactions in April, 19% more than same month last fiscal
Over 250 million e-KYC transactions in April 2023
Aadhaar holders executed 1.96 billion authentication transactions in April 2023, a jump of more than 19.3 per cent over April 2022, indicating the growth of digital economy and usage of Aadhaar in India.
A majority of these authentication transaction numbers were carried out by using fingerprint. It is followed by demographic and OTP based authentications. Face authentication too is witnessing a good usage across sectors for easy service delivery.
While Aadhaar saturation among adult population continues to be near universal, the saturation level among all age groups has now climbed to 94.8 per cent, indicative of the reach and adoption of Aadhaar among residents. During the month of April more than 15.44 million Aadhaars were updated on request from the residents.
The Aadhaar Enabled Payment System  is enabling financial inclusion for those at the bottom of the income pyramid. In April 2023, more than 200.6 million last mile banking transactions were made possible through AePS and the network of micro ATMs.
Aadhaar e-KYC service continues to play a key role in the banking and non-banking financial services sectors by providing transparent and improved customer experience, and helping in ease of doing business. More than 250.5 million eKYC transactions were carried out in April alone.
By the end April 2023, the cumulative number of Aadhaar e-KYC transactions has gone past 14.95 billion. Continued adoption of e-KYC is significantly reducing customer acquisition cost of entities like financial institutions, telecom service providers among others.
Whether it is e-KYC for identity verification, AePS for last mile banking, authentications or Aadhaar enabled DBT for direct fund transfer, Aadhaar, the foundation of India’s digital public infrastructure and a tool of good governance, is playing an important role in supporting Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of improving the Ease of Living for residents.
RKJ/DK
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Ministry of Road Transport & Highways
Gadkari: Government targets road construction worth Rs.15 lakh crore in next two years; Exudes confidence of achieving target of 40 kilometres per day of highways construction in current fiscal
Minister for Road Transport & Highways and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Shri Nitin Gadkari said that the Government is giving utmost priority to the development of infrastructure and has set a target of road construction of worth Rs.15 lakh crores in next two years.
Shri Gadkari was confident that the Ministry for Road Transport & Highways will achieve target of 40 kilometres per day of highways construction in current fiscal. He said that the Government is permitting 100% FDI in road sector.
The Minister said that in India, projects like National Infrastructure pipeline for 2019-2025 is the first of its kind and government is committed to provide world class infra to its citizens and improving quality of their lives. He said that under the NIP, there are over 7,300 projects to be implemented at a total outlay of Rs. 111 lakh crore by year 2025. He said that the NIP aims at improving project preparation, and attract investment into infrastructure like highways, railways, ports, airports, mobility, energy and agriculture and rural industry.
Addressing the Indo–U.S. Partnership Vision Summit through video conferencing yesterday, the Minister said that in the new era of bilateral relations, the national interests of India and the United States are converging and there is growing confidence between both the administrations that all outstanding trade issues will be resolved and major trade agreements will be signed soon. The Minister invited the U.S. companies to invest in infrastructure and MSME sectors in India.
Full event link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73z4Pgax-1Q
Prime Minister's Office
Prime Minister’s meeting with the President of Guyana on the sidelines of 17th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi met President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, H.E. Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, on the sidelines of 17th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas  in Indore today. President Irfaan Ali is on an official visit to India from 8-14 January 2023 and is the Chief Guest at the 17th PBD.
The two leaders held comprehensive discussions on a wide range of issues including cooperation in energy, infrastructure development, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, technology and innovation, and defence cooperation. Both leaders recalled the 180 year old historical bonds of friendship between the people of India and Guyana and agreed to deepen them further.
President Irfaan Ali will hold bilateral discussions with President Smt Droupadi Murmu, and attend the Valedictory Session and Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award Ceremony on 10 January 2023. He will also participate in the Global Investors Summit 2023 in Indore on 11 January.
Apart from Indore, President Ali will also visit Delhi, Kanpur, Bangalore and Mumbai.
Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers
NFL registers steep growth in sale of single super phosphate and Bentonite Sulphur
In order to promote the balanced use of fertilizers in country
National Fertilizers Limited  is encouraging farmers to also use non-urea fertilizers like DAP, MoP, NPK and Sulphur Based fertilizers.With these efforts, the company has registered growth in sale of all non-urea fertilizers during the first seven months of the current financial year.
The sale of sulphur based fertilizers of company - Bentonite Sulphur has registered a growth of 237% and single super phosphate  has registered growth of 133% over the Corresponding Period Last Year. While Bentonite Sulphur, produced in NFL Panipat Plant, logged sale of 11,730 MT during April-October 2020 against CPLY of 3,478 MT, sale of SSP reached 14,726 MT compared to 6,323 MT during the same period last year.
"It is important to encourage use of all types of fertilizers to provide balanced nutrition to soil”, said Sh V N Datt, C&MD of the company. Sulphur is essential to maximizing plant growth and yield. As the fourth most important nutrient, Sulphur is also required for nitrogen use efficiency.
NFL markets Urea, DAP, MoP, NPKs, APS, Compost, SSP and Bentonite Sulphur besides many strains of bio-fertilizers to provide all types of fertilizers to farmers under one roof.
After the Nitrogen , Phosphorus  and Potash , Sulphur  is the 4th major plant nutrient required and deficiency of sulphur is widespread in Indian Soils. It is required for crops like Oilseeds, Pulses, Vegetables, Sugarcane, Paddy, Horticulture crops etc.
Sulphur is replenished in soil mainly through Bentonite Sulphur and SSP. While Bentonite Sulphur contains 90% Sulphur, SSP contains 11% sulphur, 16% P2O5 and 21% Calcium.
Ministry of Communications
Department of Posts to deliver essential items through National Road Transport Network with 22 routes of over 500km
Due to the prevailing situation arising out of lock-down due to COVID-19, the supply chain management of essential items in the country got disrupted as the passenger airlines, railways and state roadways stopped plying. Union Minister for Commmunications, Electronics& Information Technology and Law and Justice ,Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad while addressing the senior officers of the Department of Posts ,encouraged the department to think out of the box in the crisis period. As a result of this encouragement, the idea of starting a road network with the existing fleet of departmental vehicles, primarily used for intra- city delivery , was conceived and a National Road Transport Network was designed with 22 long routes of over 500 km interspersed with 34 interstate/intra-state schedules touching over 75 cities across the country. This initiative will now ensure that there is a movement of essential items within the country as Department of Posts will be able to deliver parcels carrying essential items anywhere in the country.
The Department of Posts has already taken a number of initiatives to ensure supplies of essential items including medicines , Covid- 19 testing kits, masks , sanitizers, PPEs and medical equipments including ventilators and defibrillators to all corners of the country. The Department has also been delivering cash at doorsteps specially of old , divyangjan , pensioners through Adhar enabled payment system. This National Road Transport Network is yet another initiative of the Department to reach out to people across the country.
Competition Commission of India
Anti-competitive activities found amongst Bengal Chemists and Druggists Association and certain pharmaceutical companies
The Competition Commission of India  has passed an order finding Bengal Chemists and Druggists Association , its two District Committees i.e. Murshidabad District Committee and Burdwan District Committee and their office-bearers, to be indulging into anti-competitive practices in contravention of the provisions of Section 3   read with Section 3  of the Competition Act, 2002 . Such anti-competitive practices being found to be indulged into by BCDA are:  it used to require pharmaceutical companies in at least some Districts of the State of West Bengal have their new stockists obtain a prior Stock Availability Information / No Objection Certificate  from BCDA before supply of drugs can be commended to them;  it used to collect monetary considerations from the prospective stockists against issuance of SAI to them, through its District Committees; and  Promotion cum Distributor  agents of pharma companies had to obtain Product Availability Information  from BCDA after payment of monetary considerations to it in the form of donations, to start marketing drugs of their respective pharma companies in the State of West Bengal.
Further, the CCI has found that pharmaceutical companies Alkem Laboratories Limited  and Macleods Pharmaceuticals Limited  had an anti-competitive agreement with BCDA whereby these companies, after issuing the offer letter of stockistship  to prospective stockists, demanded from them SAI/ NOC/ Approval Letter/ Circulation Letter from BCDA, before supplies of drugs can be commenced to them. For their such conduct, the Commission has found Alkem and Macleods liable for contravention of the provisions of Section 3  of the Act and their various officials have also been found liable by the CCI for such conduct in terms of Section 48 of the Act.
Accordingly, the CCI has directed BCDA, its District Committees of Murshidabad and Burdwan, their office bearers, pharmaceutical companies viz. Alkem and Macleods, and their respective officials who have been held liable in terms of the provisions of Section 48 of the Act, to cease and desist in future from indulging in practices which have been to be in contravention of the provisions of Section 3 of the Act. However, the CCI, noting that BCDA has been able to show that post the decision of the CCI in Santuka Associates Pvt. Ltd. v. AIOCD and Others, 2013 Comp.L.R. 223 , it has taken several steps in the direction of ending the practice of requiring NOC/ SAI and noting that Alkem and Macleods have taken the plea before the CCI that they were indulging in the impugned conduct under threat/ duress/ directions from BCDA, decided not to impose any monetary penalty on the erring entities. In terms of Section 27  of the Act, the CCI only directed BCDA to conduct advocacy events by way of outreach activities with its District Committees/ Zone Committees and their office bearers, to impress upon them the need to comply with the provisions of the Act in letter and in spirit.
Detailed order of the Commission will follow.
Ministry of Finance
GST Revenue collection for June2021
₹ 92,849 crore gross GST revenue collected in June’ 2021
The gross GST revenue collected in the month of June’ 2021 is₹92,849 crore of which CGST is ₹16,424 crore, SGST is ₹20,397, IGST is ₹49,079 crore  and Cess is ₹6,949 crore .The above figure includes GST collection from domestic transactions between 5thJune to 5th July’2021 since taxpayers were given various relief measures in the form of waiver/reduction in interest on delayed return filing for 15 days for the return filing month June’21 for the taxpayers with the aggregate turnover uptoRs. 5 crore in the wake of covid pandemic second wave.
During this month the government has settled ₹ 19,286 crore to CGST and ₹ 16,939 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement.
The revenues for the month of June 2021 are 2% higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year.
GST collection after posting above Rs. 1 lakh crore mark for eight months in a row, the collection in June’2021 dropped below Rs. 1 lakh crore. The GST collection for June’2021 is related to the business transactions made during May’2021. During May’2021, most of the States/UTs were under either complete or partial lock down due to COVID. The e-way bill data for the month of May 2021 shows that during the month, 3.99 crore e-way bills were generated as compared to 5.88 crore in the month of April 2021, down by more than 30%.
However, with reduction in caseload and easing of lockdowns, the e-way bills generated during June 2021 is 5.5 crore which indicates recovery of trade and business. The daily average generation of e-way bill for the first two weeks of April 2021 was 20 lakh, which came down to 16 lakh in last week of April 2021 and further to 12 lakh in the two weeks between 9th to 22nd May. Thereafter, the average generation of e-way bills has been increasing and has reached again to 20 lakh level since week beginning 20th June. Therefore, it is expected that while the GST revenues have dipped during the month of June, the revenues will see an increase again from July 2021 onwards.
Prime Minister's Office
PM greets BSF personnel on their Raising Day
The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has greeted the Border Security Force  personnel and their families on BSF Raising Day.
“Greetings to @BSF_India personnel and their families on BSF Raising Day. BSF exemplifies fortitude and impeccable service to our nation. They protect us from adversity, be it on the borders as well as in times of natural disasters and accidents. We are proud of BSF.”, the Prime Minister said.